Millions of people use their automobiles everyday. Often, a driver wishes to travel with a beverage. Many drivers depend on hot coffee or a cold, caffeinated soft drink to keep them alert and awake during long trips. Unfortunately, hot drinks can quickly become cold and distasteful. Conversely, cold drinks often become warm and undrinkable after extended periods.
Many solutions to these problems have been tried but none adequately address the problems associated with both hot and warm beverages. For example, ice cubes will help keep a drink cold, but are useless to keep drinks warm. Ice cubes also melt and dilute the drink after extended use.
Insulated mugs can help keep a drink hot or cold for a brief period, but are ineffective over extended periods of time. Also, these mugs are useless unless the beverage is already cold or hot when it is poured into the insulated mug.
A coozie is also often used with a cold beverage to keep it cold. A coozie is basically insulated fabric that helps keep a drink cold. However, a coozie is not useful for warm beverages. Coozies are also incapable of cooling a beverage that is not cold already.
Hence, there is a need in the art for an easy to use, affordable and effective device for cooling or warming a beverage and maintaining that temperature for an extended period of time without affecting the chemical makeup of the beverage.